CSIRO Investigation questioned at Senate Estimates.
Questions were raised in relation to the CSIRO Investigation into bullying and other misconduct by Greens Senator, the Hon. Penny Wright during the Senate Estimates Economics Committee Hearing on 27 February 2014. The video can be viewed here:
We note that the responses of Dr Clark were as effusive as ever.
In relation to the declaration that “the Investigator would not be making any determinations of bullying“, Dr Clark failed to disclose to Senator Wright that this decision only became evident late last year (December 2013) via yet another change slipped into the original Terms of Reference for the investigation which continue to be manipulated to the benefit of the CSIRO and the detriment of victims of workplace bullying.
It is hard to take seriously an investigation where the goal posts are constantly shifting and where a significant number of participants have reported to us that their complaints have largely been rewritten to effectively exclude mishandling by CSIRO management or have been denied investigation based upon a range of spurious grounds, which arguably have little or nothing to do with the nature of the investigation.
There is absolutely no recourse available to participants in which to challenge the validity of such determinations.
From the very outset of this investigation, it has been quite clear that the Terms of Reference have been drafted so as to exclude as many participants as possible from the investigation process.
More recently, the highly selective process of determining which complaints or select elements of complaints are to be investigated and to what extent they will be investigated (if at all) gives rise to considerable concern over what the investigation team is actually able to investigation.
Considering that the Investigator is not even empowered to make a determination on what IS or IS NOT bullying, despite the CSIRO’s clear policies on such matters, we are seriously left wondering what it is that the investigation team is actually tasked to do, other than to perpetuate the myth that the CSIRO is actually doing something to address the problems of workplace bullying within the organisation, which it is clearly not!
We note that despite nearly 12 months of investigation and the engagement of a former Commonwealth Ombudsman, the Victims of CSIRO continue to receive a large number of complaints in relation to contemporary bullying issues.
The continued lack of stakeholder engagement is palpable…
Victims of Bullying, Harassment, and Victimisation in the CSIRO 
In a company if a director gave the board an unsatisfactory answer they would be sacked.In government senators ask questions and public servants keep their jobs. Will Prime Minister Shorten inherit this problem?
Anonymous
March 3, 2014
Will HWL Ebsworth ever release the final report??????? or they in collaboration with senior CSIRO management looking for good time to release it?????????? it would be easy to say what the report would be like. Absolve all wrongdoing of CSIRO senior mgmt, accept trivial matters and provide recommendations to set right those trival matters. Thats it. Scientists and staff who have been bullied out of the organisation are left to fend for themselves. simple.
Ananymuos
April 8, 2014